sweetfrenchtoast

Wow. It’s a little hard to believe that it’s 2010. First of all, it sounds so awesomely futuristic but it’s NOW. Also, 2009 totally flew by! Seriously, it’s all a bit of a blur. And unfortunately, I was so busy that I rarely found the time to blog and document the year. But it was a pretty awesome year simply due to the fact that RH and I got married!

Thank you to Stacey Bode for the fabulous wedding photos.

2009 was also the Year of Food. We ate a lot, and we ate well. Very well. Not only did we dine at some amazing restaurants (Joël Robuchon, Rick Bayless, Kevin Gillespie, anyone?), but we also seriously upped our game in the kitchen at home. RH has been cooking a lot lately, and he’s really good at it! And he enjoys it, which is awesome. I’m really good at sides and—of course—desserts.

For New Year’s Eve, I made a tarte noir with a chocolate shortbread crust and a Valrhona bittersweet chocolate ganache filling. I also made a homemade raspberry sauce to go with it. It was delicious! I was really pleased that it turned out so well, especially since I have been known to have issues with crusts in the past.

It was quite lovely to look at, too.

Yesterday, I made marshmallows. They were quite yummy too, especially melted into a mug of French chocolat chaud, which uses bittersweet chocolate, heavy cream, and milk to make an oh-so-rich hot chocolate that is to die for.

I still laugh at RH’s reaction to tasting the marshmallows after I cut them into little pillowy squares.

“Well, I’m going to be completely honest with you,” he started, which immediately sent my eyebrows northward. “First of all, I don’t like marshmallows,” he continued. “But these taste JUST LIKE MARSHMALLOWS!”

I wasn’t sure how to take that, but he assured me that I had accomplished my mission because they were indeed marshmallows instead of some mutant relative to marshmallows. I think they taste way better than store-bought marshmallows (WAY better!), and, as usual, I really like knowing what’s in them since I made them myself.

On a totally different note, it’s been really, really cold lately in Atlanta. I’m talking break-out-the-thermal-underwear cold. So tonight, RH suggested that I have a cup of hot tea, and I decided to try the Korean snow dew tea that I brought back from Seoul.

I used this wonderful little tea cup that I bought in Seoul. It has a lid/saucer and an incredibly convenient insert for steeping loose leaf tea.

I had forgotten a few important things about the tea: it’s really sweet, and it only takes a few leaves to make a cup. The cup I made was a little too sweet for me because I used too many leaves. The tea is naturally sweet, and it pretty much tastes like sugar in your tea. If you like tea, I recommend trying it sometime. It’s definitely different from your traditional green, white and black teas.

Now that I’ve shared some food and drink with you, I’m off to be domestic. There are dishes to put away and laundry to fold. I guess humans still do their own laundry in 2010. Rats!!